Children’s Disaster Services presently has volunteers serving in the Washington, D.C., area with families who have been bussed from Texas and are seeking asylum in the United States. The families are dropped off with few provisions and are receiving support from local churches and mutual aid groups. CDS volunteers care for the children who have experienced many months of displacement in their young lives. Local and regional Church of the Brethren congregations are assisting this effort in a variety of ways.
Children’s Disaster Services also has been asked by the national Red Cross organization to send volunteers to Kentucky to serve families affected by the flooding. A team of four will be traveling on Saturday, Aug. 6. Online donations to assist those in Kentucky can be made at www.brethren.org/give-kentucky-flooding.
As always, prayers are needed for all of these families and those responding to the situation.
Since 1980, Children’s Disaster Services, a program of Brethren Disaster Ministries, has been meeting the needs of children by setting up child care centers in shelters and disaster assistance centers across the nation. Specially trained to respond to traumatized children, volunteers provide a calm, safe, and reassuring presence in the midst of the chaos created by tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and other natural or human-caused disasters.
Additional information about Children’s Disaster Services can be found at www.brethren.org/cds. Help provide financial support for the work of CDS by donating to the Emergency Disaster Fund at www.brethren.org/edf.